Ben Foster has accepted he will have to leave Manchester United to revive his flagging career.

A series of early season blunders while deputising for the injured Edwin van der Sar have seen Foster slip to third in the Old Trafford pecking order behind the Dutchman and Tomasz Kuszczak . On Monday he was reduced to becoming a penalty shoot-out hero in United’s reserve team title triumph over Aston Villa.

Ben Foster

“You never want to leave Manchester United,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “If you leave this club you are only ever going to go down. But I want to be playing football.”

He added: “I am not interested in just hanging around and I would go if the club wanted to sell me.”

“If they are happy to accept a bid then you have to read between the lines and realise you are not really needed and move on. It would not be the end of the world for me.”

Ferguson has said he sees Foster being part of his first-team squad next season.

That looks to be highly unlikely though, with the possibility of a loan move on the agenda, possibly to Birmingham if, as expected, they are not able to get Joe Hart back from Manchester City.

Foster knows he will lose out to Hart in the battle to secure an England World Cup spot, with David James and Robert Green also set to make the trip to South Africa.

“I don’t think there is any chance of South Africa now,” he said. “If he were to pick me it would be very unfair on some of the other goalkeepers.

“I have not played a first-team game for a good few months and some of the English lads out there like Joe Hart and Robert Green have been doing fantastic.”